Thursday, December 04, 2008

Assy McGee Award®: Townhall Blogger and Former Winner of this Award, Amanda Carpenter, Wins Again

Carpenter won this Award on October 20th, Ye will remember, as a Double-Decker Deal. She both levied an Ad Hominem Attack on Tina Fey & Began a Vociferous Defense of Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

Verily, Carpenter has been shown to be one of the most deserving recipients of the Assy McGee Award®. Now comes her treatment, on the Townhall Blog, of the Anti Prop 8 Musical Video circulating, which stars Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, and other Hollywood luminaries.

As to the Actual Video. Harrogate will leave it up to Readers to Determine the Value of its Arguments.




But whatever ye think of the video, Carpenter's little write-up of it exemplifies the kind of Bad Rhetoric that we Situationers are dedicated to defeating. The Piece is Entitled Jack Black Trashes Mormons, Blacks Over Prop 8. What is Wrong with this Headline? Without watching the Video, you might think nothing would be wrong with it, since it is well known that the African-American Community as well as the Mormon Church factored centrally in the Passage of Prop 8. Except there's one little thingy, here. The video Makes Absolutely No Mention, Explicit, Symbolic, Whatever, Of Either African Americans or Mormons.

Does the Video attack Proposition 8? Well of course it does. But it does so by pointing up the Hypocrisies inherent to Biblical Literalists seeking to Shape the Law. Jack Black, for example, offers the familiar counter-argument that the same text which condemns homosexuality also says you cannot eat shrimp cocktail, that a man may sell his daughter into slavery, have his wife stoned to death, etc.

All of which is to ask, WHY does Carpenter lie so overtly in her Headline? Thoughts?

2 comments:

solon said...

The video is quite clever....I am surprised by the number of semi-famous people in the skit....

But to Carpenter: It is for Prop 8, hence it is against all Religious people. And the priest who fought for Prop 8 was black so....

BUt, sadly, this is not about religion, spirituality, or theology: it is another form of identity politics. The left plays games with minorities (gays, women, blacks, hispanics) while the right practices identity politics with religion: social conservative protestants, catholics, and now mormons.

But again, it is politics and not religion. And since it is about politics, the Carpenter can distort to her liking. It is not as if there are laws or commandments that forbid lying for political gain.

I wish we had a religious scholar to help us with these issues....

The Roof Almighty said...

Ah, you disagree with Carpenter, thus you disagree with all carpernters, thus you are anti-Christian, thus you are no friend of Israel.

I'm onto you, Goebbels!